Overexpression of kallikrein gene 10 is a biomarker for predicting poor prognosis in gastric cancer

AIM:To analyze the expression of kallikrein gene 10(KLK10)in gastric cancer and to determine whether KLK10 has independent prognostic value in gastric cancer.METHODS:We studied KLK10 expression in 80 histologically confirmed gastric cancer samples using realtime quantitative reverse transcription-PCR and hK10expression using immunohistochemistry.Correlations with clinicopathological variables(lymph node metastasis,depth of invasion and histology)and with outcomes(disease-free survival and overall survival)during a median follow-up period of 31 mo were assessed.Gastric cancer tissues were then classified as KLK10 positive or negative.RESULTS:KLK10 was found to be highly expressed in 57/80(70%)of gastric cancer samples,while its expression was very low in normal gastric tissues.Positive relationships between KLK10 expression and lymph node metastasis(P=0.048),depth of invasion(P=0.034)and histology(P=0.015)were observed.Univariate survival analysis revealed that gastric cancer patients with positive KLK10 expression had an increased risk for relapse/metastasis and death(P=0.005 and0.002,respectively).Cox multivariate analysis indicated that KLK10 was an independent prognostic indicator of disease-free survival and overall survival in patients with gastric cancer.CONCLUSION:KLK10 expression is an independent biomarker of unfavorable prognosis in patients with gastric cancer.